The Ukrainian parliament is witnessing a second day of picketing, as hundreds of Right Sector activists pressure MPs to sack the interior minister. Earlier other protesters tried to force their way into Kiev’s Rada to stop a vote on austerity measures.

Just a month after street protests forced President Viktor
Yanukovich from the country, Ukrainian capital faces a new wave
of anti-government demonstrations.

The worst action against the authorities is staged by the Right
Sector, an umbrella organization of radical activists, who played
the key part in the February bloody stand-off. At least a
thousand of the activists are standing guard around the Verkhovna
Rada building on Friday demanding that the MPs vote on sacking
the freshly-appointed interior minister.

The protesters accuse Arsen Avakov of ordering what they call a
political assassination of one of their leaders, Aleksandr
Muzychko. The notorious Right Sector brute, who made media waves
in Ukraine thanks to videos of him bullying officials and
threatening to hang Avakov, was gunned down in a police raid
aimed at arresting him.

Right Sector vowed revenge for their comrade’s death and for a
second day are attempting to pressure Ukrainian lawmakers into
sacking Avakov. A draft bill to that effect has been filed with
the parliament on Friday by an independent MP, a move which may
have stopped a planned siege of the building by the radicals.

The legislators do not appear to be happy with the protest rally
at their doorstep. Speaker Aleksandr Turchinov, who was also
appointed acting president of Ukraine, branded the Right Sector’s
actions a provocation.

“The Ukrainian parliament is the foundation of the legitimate
Ukrainian power. Without this foundation there would be no power
at all,” he said.

“There is an attempt to destabilize the situation in Ukraine,
it its center, in its heart, in Kiev,” Turchinov added,
further alleging that the Right Sector activist may be agent
provocateurs hired by Russia. He didn’t explain how exactly
Moscow, which put Right Sector leader on the international wanted
list, can give orders to the fiercely nationalistic organization.

Amid the confrontation an unconfirmed report claimed that the Ukrainian law enforcement
agencies are debating whether they should issue sanctions against
Right Sector or completely outlaw it.

The idea is reportedly supported by the chair of the Ukrainian
national security service Andrey Parubiy, who also happens to
have strong links with the main competitor of the Right Sector
among radical activists, the Maidan Self-Defense. Members of the
alternative organization are being recruited en mass into the
freshly created Ukrainian National Guard, while Right Sector
activists are reportedly reluctant to join in.

The confrontation between the government and the Right Sector
received an unexpected twist on Thursday, when an alleged phone
conversation between two officers of the Sokol (Falcon) special
service unit was leaked on YouTube. The people were discussing a
special operation similar to the one with Muzychko being prepared
against Yarosh on the order of Ukrainian Security Service head
Valentin Nalivaychenko. The authenticity of the tape remains
under question.

Meanwhile less-radical Ukrainians find their own reasons to
restart street protest. On Thursday a group of several dozen
people tried to force their way into the parliament just as MPs
were preparing to vote on a package of austerity measures
suggested by the government. The protesters demanded that the
package was dropped and for greater transparency of the
government work.

The protest may have worked, since MPs didn’t pass the
anti-crisis package in the first vote and had to vote again.